Another cook done

Well I finally finished cooking last night. I had one meal left on my list so I decided to make it for dinner and then freeze the extras. Here are some of the things that went on this weekend, along with some reminders to myself. I think bullets will make it easier to write it all down. It was a crazy weekend for sure and there are many reasons it took me so long. Such is life, it's never perfect, but always worth living.

• Next time I cook remind me to follow my own advice. It really makes sense!
• For example: Only choose one new recipe to try. It takes time to learn a new set of directions.
• Preparation the night before is necessary to saving time on cooking day. Wish I had remembered that. Sigh.
• Its ok if it takes longer that 3 days to finish. Its still DONE!
• Our dishwasher broke, this really wasn't an issue with cooking as I reuse so many of the pots anyway, but there are still dishes from the meals. Remember that it makes a nice drying rack or storage space when out of room on the counters.
• My husband was not feeling well(and still isn't) I needed to take time to take care of him and the children. Instead of him watching them for me.
• Don't forget important dates in your life. It was our anniversary, I forgot and then remembered so we took Saturday evening to go out to dinner and then have cake for desert. 
• We had fun! Some of the children are really able to help out now that they are older.
• Children discussing who gets to grate the cheese? Music to my ears as I did not have to do it! They also helped peel the garlic, measure out spices, and stir the pots.
• Plan to incorporate the children helping the next time I cook. Yes, it must be planned or they constantly ask me what they can do next. This is actually a good problem. :)
• I made 65 meals, more than I expected, and there are 4 more in the freezer left over. 
• Do the math right when adding up pounds of meat. Its no fun to have to go back to the store because I forgot something. Twice.
• I thought of a good method for freezing in small spaces. I will share that soon.
• Now I must go clean the kitchen, the floor is a bit sticky.

That about sums it up. ALL DONE! I do have lots of new to you recipes to share. This is my winter rotation menu, and I added a couple of new ones in this time.

Shopping List Printable

Finally here is a printable for you! If you are cooking, or planning to cook this will help you in the planning of your shopping and how much you need to buy.

First pick out the recipes you are using and number them. To use this shopping list write down the ingredients, then how much you need of each item under the corresponding recipe number. Once you have it all filled out you can count up you totals and know what you need to purchase.Then you can transfer it to a list divided by sections of the grocery store.

Shopping List

I have never linked a printable before so I am not sure that this will work. If it doesn't let me know and I'll work on fixing it. You should be able to right click on the underlined words above and open the file to print it. You will probably need 3 to 4 sheets for 20 recipes. It all depends on what you are cooking. As always if you have any questions just leave them in the comments or e-mail me and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

In which I answer questions

First I want to say thank your to all of those who left comments and to my new followers! I do plan on posting my recipes as we eat through them. That way you can have a nice photo to go along with the recipe. I will also do a post on how we eat our meals so that nothing gets left behind and we are not stuck eating the same things for days on end. Yes, it has happened. :)

So on to the questions.

1. Many of you asked about the freezer dividers we have. We have a Kennmore Elite 24.9 cubic foot chest freezer and the dividers and baskets came with it. We affectionately call our freezer the dead mans chest as it is 6 feet long. I do not think you can buy just the dividers, but it might be worth checking into.

2.You can freeze pasta. I just undercook my noodles or add them on the day I reheat the meal. For example for manicotti I cook the noodles until they are soft enough to stuff, for lasagna I just run under hot water until they are pliable, and for a soup I add them the day I cook the meal.

3. There are many books out there. The one I started with is still in print and for sale here and I still use a couple of the recipes out if it. What I have found is that we eat very differently that a casserole every night and we love International foods. So I started experimenting. I would make a meal and freeze it and see if it worked based on the ingredient list. Some things did well some things flopped, for example flour tortillas do fine but corn got all soggy. Some of the meals I make take more time on cook day because of this.

4. May of my recipes are family favorites I have been eating since a little girl, some are from Weight Watchers, All recipes, Tasty Kitchen, and cookbooks. If it looks like something my family will eat and the ingredient list is similar to a meal I know freezes well I try it. We do get tired of eating the same things over and over so I try to switch up the menu every time I cook. Some things stay each time because my children ask for them or they are quick and easy for those extra busy nights.

5. I do not cook anything fully ahead of time. I assemble the dish and then freeze.  I feel that the flavor is better if I cook it the day we eat it. Although I do have to remember to take it out of the freezer!

6. Many of my meals are just marinades. This cuts down on prep the day of the cook and they also are quick to assemble on my big cook day. All of the Chinese food is cooked the day we eat it. It does not freeze well, but having the meat prepared ahead of time cuts down the time to prepare.  Marinades will become stronger if frozen as the meat soaks up the sauce while freezing and then again while thawing. Some recipes are better this way and others I partially freeze the meat first and then add the ingredients as they become to strong. I think its personal preference and I will note that in a recipe.

7. As for how much I spend. I know many of you were wondering about this one! This last time I spent about 500.00 and it is looking like our meals might last 4 months instead of 3. We are a family of 6, and my children are 8, 7, 5, and 4. This will vary depending on what you cook and the people in your family. We also like to eat meat and sometime the more expensive cuts. Normally I but a half a side of beef in the fall and then use that. This time I was out of beef and so I needed to buy all my meats. I know you could get your costs down even more with the choices of meals. Roast pork, flank steak, sirloin, lamb(for the shepherd’s pie) and pork tenderloin are not exactly budget friendly choices, they just happen to be my husbands favorites and good choices for company meals. I also do not buy many canned ingredients as I can my own from our garden.

8. I do make some breads and breakfast things ahead of time also just not on the same day as cooking it would be to much. I have a baking day for breads, muffins, and pizza crusts.
I hope that answers everyone’s questions or perhaps sparked more. Leave me a comment and I’ll try to answer.

Guest Posting

 

I just wanted to let you know I am guest posting tonight over at Teatertots and Jello on my once a month cooking.

Go and check it out HERE. Lots of ideas and inspiration!

Cooking Day

Now that you have spent the past few days planning and preparing it is time to cook! I try to start cooking about 8:00 after a good breakfast and go for as long as I can. I wear my most comfortable shoes and make sure to drink water and eat. Will all the food in front of me I can forget to eat and then I am likely to make a mistake.

I started with the marinades this time around. There are a lot of them due to the fact that we will grill a lot over the summer months. All of my meat was all ready placed in the labeled bag from my prep the night before. I just pulled out the meal I was working on put the ingredients in and  mixed up up to coat the meat.After I mixed everything up I try to get as much air out as possible and flatten. It saves so much space in the freezer to do it this way. I weigh all my meats so that the portions are correct since I am making more that one meal at a time and it helps with my portion control when serving the meal.Some recipes call for a sauce that you put on while cooking or grated cheese to be added.  I freeze these separately in a smaller bag and then tape it to the main meal. My marinades took me 4 hours to complete. I then moved on to beef dished that did not need to be cooked. I made seasoned hamburgers and little cheddar meat loaves.Then I moved on to the more involved meals. I had 4 things going at once. I browned ground beef for burritos, taco salad, and taco pizza while I started making the gumbo. Gumbo is an easy recipe but it needs to simmer and then cool before packaging. So I put it on one of the back burners while I work on the other things. You an see that I have all the ingredients I need right in front of me so I don’t waste time. Now my kitchen looks like this. Normally my husband does the dishes to help out but he was away for the weekend camping. I could tell I had come to rely on him for this part as I didn’t wash as I went and then spent an hour catching up so I could use the bowls and measuring cups again. Lesson learned!!  Here I am putting the baked burritos together. This recipe makes 10 burritos and I tripled it to make 30. We only eat 7 burritos at one meal so instead of to many leftovers I made 4 meals with a small portion for my husband to take to work. This is a nice way of stretching you meal count that you couldn't do if you didn’t cook in bulk. I ran out of 9x13 storage containers so I had to put a couple in glass. Here you can see it made four meals. This is one of the last meals I made. I always seem to leave the most time consuming meals for last. At least I can sit down while stuffing the shells!Here is what my freezer looks like today! After everything is frozen I organize it and stand up all the Ziploc meals to make it easier to find what I am looking for.        Here is a list of what I made and how many meals.

• 
  
  Szechwan Chicken
• 
  
  Thai Peanut Chicken
• 
  
  Greek Feta Chicken
• 
  
  Chicken Lo Mein
• 
  
  Heavenly Chicken
• 
  
  Blackened Chicken
• 
  
  Chicken Gyros
• 
  
  Lemon Garlic Chicken
• 
  
  Chicken Gumbo
• 
  
  Honey Baked Chicken
• 
  
  Garlic Roasted Chicken
• 
  
  Creamy Ham and Pasta
• 
  
  New Potatoes with Peas and Ham
• 
  
  Spicy Green Beans with Pork
• 
  
  Brown Sugar Chipotle Roast Pork
• 
  
  Asian Pork Tenderloin
• 
  
  Pork Tenderloin Tandoori
• 
  
  Taco Pizza
• 
  
  Korean Fire Beef
• 
  
  Baked Burritos
• 
  
  Taco Salad
• Hamburgers
• 
  
  Haystacks
• 
  
  Chili Crusted Flank Steak
• 
  
  Cheese Steak Casserole
• 
  
  Manicotti
• 
  
  Shepherd’s Pie

I will share some of the recipes soon! If you see something that interests you let me know and I’ll try to share those first!

Preparing for your cook

This is what my fridge looks like when I stuff it full of groceries. I try to make sure I don’t have a full fridge to begin with but if I run out of room I have a small mini fridge that I can use, or a cooler. If you are still short on space take everything out that doesn't need to be chilled, like mustards, drinks, soy sauce, etc. The canned goods I will be using I set up on my breakfast table where I can grab them quickly. In previous homes I pulled out my card table for this purpose. The first thing I do to prepare is clean off the counters of anything I won’t be needing. For me that is my mixer, coffee pot, plant, and decorations. They will just be in the way when I am working. I then pulled out all of my spices, measuring cups and spoons, flour, oil, and eggs. These are the items I will use the most and I don’t want to have to bother with opening cabinet doors and drawers all day long.    I also pull out all of my mixing bowls and put them in a convenient place. I use and reuse these all day also, especially the large ones when tripling recipes. You will want to prepare as many ingredients ahead of time as you can. I chop onions, garlic, and peppers, shred cheese, and crumble crackers. Then when I am cooking I can just measure out what I need instead of chopping or shredding for each recipe. I also prepare my meat. Some of my recipes call for sliced steak, diced chicken or chicken strips. I wear rubber gloves when cutting so much meat as it starts to make my skin itch form handling it. My husband helped me this time, he likes to play with raw meat. This step takes a lot time!Some of the other things I do to get ready are create a place for all of the recycling that the cook will generate and make sure the trash can is empty. I gather all the containers I will use to store my meals in and get out my kitchen scale. I also get my sharpie for writing on my containers so I will know what I have my my freezer. I don’t bother with the dishwasher when I am cooking but I do make sure it is empty. It is easier to wash by hand when cooking all day. I don’t have time to wait for the dishwasher to wash things I will be using over and over. I store my meals flat in Ziploc bags or in the plastic containers you see below. They are made by Gladware and come in an 8x8 or 9x13. I have had trouble finding them in some areas but they always seem to have them at the stores around Thanksgiving.   The last step is to order your cook. I decided this time to make all the marinades first as they are easiest and don’t generate a lot of mess. Then I moved on to my beef and chicken dishes.  I made the Manicotti and Shepherd’s pie last as they are my two most time consuming meals this round.

There have been cooks where I have not prepared well or did not have the time to prepare and I always wish I did. It just makes things so much easier. It’s like your very own cooking show with all the little bowls of ingredients waiting for you to use. Now if only I had someone to prepare them for me.

Shopping for your cook

I know I said I would post this a couple of days ago now. I tried, really I did and my computer ate it up. I had my post all typed out, all I needed to do was press publish and my computer shut down. Uggg. So here I am attempting it again.

You have written your list and are ready to shop. The first thing you’ll want to do cross off anything that you won’t need until the meal is eaten, for example if you are making a taco pizza you will wait to buy the tomato's and lettuce on the week the meal is planned for. Before you leave the house, review you list so you are familiar with it, grab a water bottle, a snack, and some comfortable shoes. My average shopping trip takes about 2 hours, and the cart gets heavy. I try not to take my children with me when I shop for a cook like this. I have have many decisions that need to be made and the cart is heavy enough without extra weight. That being said I took mine with me this time because there was no other time to go. It took me 30 minutes longer with them along and I bought them ice cream on the way home as a reward.

When you arrive at the store go get your canned goods first. This way you won’t have to rearrange your cart to make room. Next I get my dry goods, like crackers and baking goods.

I do not but my spices at the regular groceries as they are so expensive. I get mine out at an Amish grocery in bulk. If you can get them this way you will save a lot of money. Some natural food stores carry them and there might be some on-line options to help you keep the costs down.

Your next stop is the meat department. This will be where the bulk of your money is spent. The most important thing to remember is to enlist the help or your butcher! I bought 45 pounds of chicken this time and he was kind enough to go get me a fresh box out of the cooler and put it on the bottom of my cart. He also made some meat selections for me that helped me save money. Sometimes they can even give you a discount if you order enough of something. There are times when I shop different stores for the sales and don’t buy everything at one stop.

Once you get your meat then move over to the dairy section and then the produce. This way nothing gets squished on the bottom of your cart. You may end up with more than once cart full of groceries depending on the types of meals you are making and how much you make from scratch.

Now that you have all of your items review your list one more time, then check out and take your groceries home.

Next up preparing for your cooking day.

Planning for a big cook

My goal this weekend it to plan and prepare 80-90 meals . These will last us all through the summer, and canning season when I really don’t have time to cook and the stove is taken up with tomatoes.

I thought I would share a little about how I plan for such a large endeavor. It really isn’t hard it just takes a bit of planning and organization. I start by looking through my recipe books and jotting down meals that we like, meals that are good for the particular season I am cooking for, and meals that will freeze well. My storage cookbook (I have two)

After I have made my list I then copy each recipe so I can put it in my go-to notebook. My go-to notebook is simply a small thin 3 ring binder. This keeps everything I need for the months in one spot for easy access. I will refer to it every time I pull out something from the freezer.

It sounds like a lot of extra work to copy each recipe but it is really worth it to not have to search for anything while you are cooking. Then after you have done it a few times there is less and less to copy. This means my regular cookbook has doubles of everything. I keep my recipes in plastic sleeves so they don’t get ruined. I am not a neat cook!As you can see some are copied out of cook books and some I have taken the time to type out and put in my 3 ring storage binder. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After they are copied I group like meals together, chicken, pork, beef, marinades, etc. This is how I will cook. I usually do the marinades first as they are easy, then move on to the beef dishes, and then the chicken and pork. Each of my plastic sleeves in my go-to notebook is labeled with a number, and I usually have 20 recipes each cook. These numbers correspond to my shopping list so I make sure to buy enough of each item.  You can see the numbers on the labels in the top right of each plastic sleeve. I reuse these sleeves each cook.  I print our four pages of my shopping list planner. It usually takes that many when I fill in each ingredient. Starting with the first recipe in the book I write down all the ingredients and fill in how much I need for each under the number one. Then I move on to the second recipe writing down any ingredients that I don’t all ready have listed, and the amounts for each under the number 2 and continue until number 20. After I have finished this step I triple every recipe as I am totaling up the numbers in my total columns. Your totals should look big!  You’ll notice that for 20 meals I have a double number column. This is so I can fit them all on one page, otherwise it is to much to keep up with and I forget to buy something or I buy to much.

Then my last planning step at this point is to transfer it all to my shopping list per the layout of the grocery store. I group meats together, dairy, canned items, dairy, etc. This will make it easier to shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I will share with you how to shop!

May 21st

My allergies are driving me crazy!!!! I haven't been this bad since I left the east coast 6 years ago. I guess 4 years back is enough to re-acclimate to them. I think I'm going to need a prescription, I can't keep feeling so drowsy all day and still have all the yucky stuff too. Needless to say I tried to get things accomplished today, but all I wanted to do was lay on the sofa and cover my eyes with a cool cloth. That is just not possible so we made the best of the day and hung out with the neighbors in their sand box. It was so nice and we hadn't done it in a while.

Owen officially finished kindergarten today and Miles is plugging away at his last math lessons.

Hurray for school breaks! I am working on getting projects done; like my schedule and binders system. The Managers of Their Homes(MOTH) schedule that I am using has you fill out activity sheets for all the things you want to accomplish for each person in your family(except hubby, he can do his own if he wants) before you start scheduling things. I am currently working on Owen. I have mine and Miles done. It's amazing how many things they need to accomplish each day. Don't worry they still have plenty of free time! I however need to figure out a way to incorporate 27 hours of tasks into a 24 hour day. I am assured I can in the book but it is going to take some planning! I'll share my sample schedule when I am done with it. I am purposely taking my time and praying about it to make it the best it can be to benefit everyone.

This is how I spent the rest of the evening organizing the recipe binder! What a mess! It used to be in order but I started piling new recipes instead of filing them and couldn't find anything. Now everything is back in categories and easy to find.

Lasagna Soup

My new favorite freezer meal! I can't wait to share it with you, I got it from the Family Fun magazine. This is not the best picture because we had all ready started to eat it the children love this!

Lasagna Soup
1 1/2 pounds chicken apple sausage
1/2 onion chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
8 ounces fusilli pasta
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
8 ounces ricotta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
pinch of pepper
2 cups shredded cheese

In large pot, saute sausage until browned. Add onions and saute until until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and saute for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and saute until the paste turns a rusty brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juice, the broth, and the bay leaves and bay leaves and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Add the pasta, then increase the heat to medium high and boil the soup until the pasta is tender to the bite. Discard the bay leaves, then stir in the basil, season with pepper.

In a small bowl, combine, the ricotta, the Parmesan, pinch of pepper. To serve, place about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of the ricotta mixture in each bowl, ladle the soup on top and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

To Freeze. Do all the steps but don't put the noodles in. Bag and freeze.
When you reheat add noodles until cooked. Serve.